Review: Wings of Valor by Swapnil Pandey

The book begins with a brief history of the Indian Air Force, tracing its trajectory from its humble origins in 1932 to its current position as the third ranking force in terms of capabilities in the world today. Despite its initially modest size, it soon proved its capability during World War II, and earned recognition for its exploits in the European, South Asian, and Burmese theatres. For a short period, between 1945 and until India became a republic in 1950 and colonial vestiges were removed, its name carried the prefix “Imperial”. The early Westland Wapiti IIA biplanes gave way to Tempests, Spitfires, Dakotas and Harvards, which performed well soon after independence in dropping vital supplies, repelling Pakistani raiders in Kashmir and colliding with Indian forces to thwart their advances.

It references the “Father of the IAF”, Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, the first Indian Air Force Chief, who unfortunately ate a morsel at dinner and died during an official visit to Tokyo in 1960.

wings of bravery It is the result of two years of intensive research by the author, supported by visits to operational commands and air bases as well as interactions with serving officers, veterans, colleagues and family members of IAF heroes who carried out courageous missions and even sacrificed their lives.

The chapter on Operation Kaveri is a gripping account of a daring rescue in Wadi Sedna, Sudan in April 2023. The Indian Air Force launched a risky mission in which it used C-130J Super Hercules to safely evacuate 118 Indian nationals and three Sudanese nationals amid internal chaos and fighting in the country. Flying almost blind, the pilots skillfully landed at the remote airbase in pitch darkness. The Garuda Special Forces contingent under the command of Squadron Leader Pritam Singh Jaitawat surrounded the Indians from the milling crowd and took off before disaster struck. A Turkish C-130J aircraft engaged in a similar task was not so lucky. It was fired upon, highlighting the danger of the mission and the skill of the Indian Air Force team.

The next story is the story of a dangerous rescue operation conducted at Trikut Hills in Deoghar, Jharkhand. The Trikut ropeway had collapsed, leaving 12 cable cars and a large number of stranded passengers hanging in the air over a 766-metre long stretch of the cableway. Civil authorities tried their best on the ground, but it was the Indian Air Force pilots who rescued the stranded passengers in almost impossible conditions. The details of the rescue operations give goosebumps to the reader. Garuda Flight Lieutenant Tejpal Yadav, 27, and his comrades were winched down from a hovering Mi-17V-5 onto the sticky and unstable metal roofs of suspended cable cars to deliver food and water to the stranded people. Amidst the force of air flowing from the rotating rotor blades, they eventually rescued the passengers one by one using harnesses. All but one were saved, thereby averting a major tragedy.

Garud, as a special force of the Indian Air Force, has made quite a reputation for itself since the inception of the force in 2004. They have the longest training course among all the special forces of India and have trained with elite units from around the world such as the USAF STS, the British SAS and the Israeli Sayeret Matkal.

Corporal Gursevak Singh was also included in this group of warriors. Recipient (posthumously) of the Shaurya Chakra, equivalent to the Vir Chakra for outstanding gallantry in peacetime military operations, Gursevak’s saga unfolds in the context of the attack by Pakistani terrorists on the Pathankot Air Force Base in January 2016. He was part of the Garud team which was out to stop the terrorists infiltrating the base perimeter. Despite tall grass and low visibility, the Garudas were able to land on them with the help of RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft). Gursevak was hit by several bullets in this firing. But he refused to back down and let his TAVOR CTAR assault rifle defend himself until he lost his life. His bravery was matched by the extraordinary courage of Defense Security Corps (DSC) constable Jagdish Chand, Kirti Chakra (posthumous). The veteran fought the terrorists with his bare hands, managed to snatch the weapon from one and shot him dead before succumbing to the bullets from behind. He was one of the five DSC personnel who made the supreme sacrifice that day.

The stories of gallantry of Garud Corporal Nilesh Kumar Nayan, Shaurya Chakra (posthumously) and Sergeant Milind Kishore Khairnar, Shaurya Chakra (posthumously) are similar, although the setting of their actions was Kashmir in October 2017. The two were deployed in Rakh Hajin village of terrorist-hit Bandipora district as part of a perimeter cordon during an operation aimed at flushing out and eliminating a group of terrorists. The Garuda Mitra duo killed some people who had come out firing indiscriminately in an attempt to break the cordon. About a month later, Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala, Ashok Chakra (posthumously), fell in the same area, but only after his Negev light machine gun (LMG) destroyed the Lashkar terrorist group responsible for the earlier deaths.

Swapnil Pandey also reminds readers of the Indian Air Force’s Operation Safed Sagar during the Kargil War, when India drove away infiltrators but refrained from crossing the Line of Control (LoC). The Indian Air Force suffered some injuries and casualties on the opening day of the conflict in May 1999, including the loss of one Mi-17 helicopter and four of its crew, Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja’s MiG-21M as well as Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa’s MiG-27. Squadron Leader Ahuja was tortured and killed by the Pakistanis after being granted bail, while Flight Lieutenant Nachiketa was captured and eventually released. Pakistan’s disregard for the Shimla Agreement, its violations across the LoC and its gross violation of the military code of war have been brought to light. But the Indian Air Force had the last laugh. It learned to stay out of reach of Stinger missiles and destroyed Pakistani positions, particularly logistics and ammunition depots at Muntho Dhalo, with precision-guided munitions (PGMs) delivered by Mirage 2000 aircraft. The use of air power proved to be a game changer during the Kargil War, as the Indian Army displayed the highest standards of bravery at the inaccessible heights of desolate mountain ranges.

The section on Operation Pawan provides a sobering lesson on the importance of intelligence, communications and coordination. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka was fighting the LTTE with one hand tied behind its back. The author presents the heart-wrenching story of the helicopter units of the Indian Air Force and soldiers of 13 Sikh Light Infantry (LI) who were inducted with Para Commandos in a first of its kind SHBO (Special Heli Borne Operation) at the University of Jaffna. This mission was conducted in an environment of extreme uncertainty. The fog of war compounded the problems as ultimately only 30 infantrymen could be para-dropped instead of the originally planned 360. The operation was a disaster; LTTE crushed them with heavy machine guns. Only one soldier survived.

The heroic stand of 13 Sikh LI at Jaffna University in 1987 is reminiscent of the gallantry of other brave battalions of the Indian Army, which also had the number “13” prefixed to their names: 13 JAK RIF was awarded 37 gallantry awards including 2 Param Vir Chakras during the Kargil War; and Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon, led by Major Shaitan Singh, PVC (posthumous). Of the latter 120, 114 lost their lives in a heroic “last man last stand” against overwhelming odds in the fighting at Rezang-La during the 1962 war with China.

Swapnil Pandey’s must-read book concludes with an informative chapter on some of the key platforms operated by the Indian Air Force, including frontline US-made transport aircraft and helicopters as well as the indigenous Tejas LCA. All this makes the reader aware of the formidable capabilities of the Indian Air Force today.

Sujan Chinoy is the Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses.